Christopher Tolkien noted that one of two possible readings for the unintelligible entry PHI in The Etymologies could be "hawk" (the other being "haste").[3]Carl F. Hostetter and Patrick H. Wynne argue that "hawk" is the more likely reading, especially given the onomatopoeic suitability of the form of the base to the cry of a hawk, and the possible relation to the root PHILIK, "small bird".[4] The Quenya word for "hawk" would then be fion, plural fiondi.[3]

In a linguistic manuscript dating from the 1930s, appears the Qenya gloss haro ("hawk").[5]